Online Dating: What To Look For In A Dating Profile

Online dating can be intimidating and overwhelming. Sort through the rifraff by keeping these things in mind when viewing online dating profiles.

What Online Dating Is All About

Dating websites have become a popular way of meeting romantic partners. They are helpful tools that the internet provides for finding relationships and often work because everyone who uses the site is interested in a relationship just as you are. The way you find out about potential romantic partners on these sites is by browsing through profiles. The profiles of the users give all sorts of background information on the person and allow you to choose people in whom you may be interested.

Though you shouldn’t jump to conclusions about somebody based on their profile alone, it can help to be able to identify profiles of people with whom you may find yourself compatible as contrasted with ones who will not be worth your time. Some of these sites even only allow you a certain amount of direct (i.e. messaging) contacts per month, so it pays to choose wisely who you would like to initiate a conversation with. Even on sites where this is not the case, wasting time with incompatible contacts just wastes your time and membership money. Though there are of course no set criteria as regards something like this, the following are some things you might consider looking for in a dating profile to help insure that it will be a fruitful contact:

Membership To Site

It is a good idea to look for others that have full memberships, because they tend to be the most active and easy to contact on sites. Many dating websites offer free initial memberships with a lot of restrictions. You may not even be able to send a message to somebody else who doesn’t have a full membership. Even if you are able to message them, they may not be able to respond. This will differ from site to site, but in general, paid site members are much easier to communicate with and begin a conversation with. They also tend to be more interested in the site as a real dating tool and not merely something to dabble in. So this is one this to look for if possible.

A Lot Of Information

A membership profile that offers a lot of information is often a good sign. It means the individual is forthcoming and open and that they are interested in the site. It also simply means that you can find out enough about a person initially to judge whether you’d like to contact them or not. If you only have a few pieces of information such as that their sex, age, occupation, and what they are interested in relationship wise, you really don’t have enough criteria for judging much of anything. Being able to read more about their interests, views, and activities before hand can save you wasted time.

Great Pictures

Few people would deny that a picture is important on a dating site. Though looks should by no means be the primary criterion for becoming interested in somebody, they do play a role. This is not only on the superficial level. You can tell “deeper” things about people by things like their smile, the way they dress, the environment where a photo was taken, and so on. Having a picture also shows that someone has an active sort of interest in the site and has taken to time create a complete profile. With all this is mind, look for profiles with pictures if possible.

Same Relationship Interest

It is a good idea to look for people with at least the same basic relationship interest as you. Certain people on dating sites will be looking merely for friendships, others for casual encounters, and still others for long term relationships. There may be gradations of these three categories as well. Generally it is important to find people that have a similar interest along these lines. This will maximize the possibility that you will both find the type of relationship you are looking for.

Friendliness

Though it might seem obvious, simple friendliness is an important trait to look for in a dating profile. If somebody expresses themselves in a friendly, encouraging, and open way in their profile, that is a sign that they will probably be this way in a relationship as well. If on the other hand they make a lot of demands, sound defensive, picky, or arrogant, this can also suggest the type of romantic partners they might be.

Active On Site

Just because somebody is a site member doesn’t necessarily mean they are very active on the site. So in addition to the things mentioned above, try to make sure a member is active and didn’t just sign up and then forget about it. You can often tell this by indicators that give the date of a member’s last visit to the site or that list the total number of visits.

Multiple Interests

A member with multiple interests is often a good person to contact, because it indicates that they will be an interesting and multifaceted person. This is definitely open to interpretation, and some people may like to find dates who don’t have a lot of interests and just enjoy a few simple things. But for the most part, people who have a number of different interests are dynamic and energetic people, and in most people’s opinion these are good qualities.